Getting nowhere fast?

Working too hard? You may be; British workers gave £32bn to the economy in unpaid overtime last year. Oliver Burkeman looks at changing the way you think so you can change the way you work

PHOTOGRAPHS: ALEXANDER CRISPIN/GETTY IMAGES

As you tap out a reply to yet another work email on your glowing phone, in bed, at 11.30pm, it would be very easy to imagine that being overworked is simply an unavoidable fact of modern life. And we certainly do work hard: British employees contributed a staggering £32 billion to the economy in unpaid overtime in 2014, according to the Trades Union Congress. What’s even worse is that the problem is self-perpetuating. Whenever we feel starved of time, researchers have shown, we tend to make foolish, hurried decisions – such as taking on even more projects – so we end up busier still.